Portable electronic devices have become more and more popular in recent years. For example, portable radios, portable music recording a music playing devices, portable cellular telephones, portable hand held personal data assistants (PDAs) and portable handheld and laptop computers are very popular. Portable electronic devices are typically powered with batteries when used in a portable mode or a plug-in power supply when used in a stationary mode. Many such devices are provided with optional rechargeable batteries or with permanently installed rechargeable batteries. In such cases a plug-in power supply device may either provide operating electrical power or electrical power for recharging the rechargeable batteries or both. The voltage used by any particular portable electronic device (sometimes referred to herein as a PED) is not always the same for different PEDs. Traditionally, many PEDs are made to operate on voltages selected in increments of 1.5 volts (such as 1.5, 3, 4.5, 6, 7.5, and 9 volts for example) chosen by a manufacturer for their particular PED. This allows the use of alkaline replacement batteries that may be inserted into the PED in a series arrangement of multiple alkaline batteries of 1.5 volts. Rechargeable batteries, as for example NiCad batteries that also have a nominal full charge voltage of about 1.5 volts may also be provided in increments of to match the number of replaceable alkaline batteries that might be required. Rechargeable NiCad batteries could often be used in place of the standard alkaline replacement batteries to provide convenient rechargeable capabilities in place of the replaceable batteries.
In many instances a manufacture of a PED would also provide a separate power supply or recharging devices together with the PED. After market power supply/recharging devices have also been available in the market place. Such recharging devices were used to convert standard electrical power (current at a given voltage) into a required charging current and voltage for the particular PED to operate or for the appropriate battery or batteries to be charged. For example, a PED may operate on 7.5 volts DC and the expected available source power or a standard input power to the recharging device might be a standard US household voltage of 110-120 volts AC. For example, 110 VAC to 120 vAC is usually available in most US homes, hotels, and buildings at wall sockets to provide at least about 10 amps of current and up to about 60 amps of current, depending upon the building wiring and fuses or circuit breakers. Another example of a standard available power is a standard automotive voltage of 12 volts DC, usually provided by a large capacity lead acid battery that is carried onboard most automobiles, trucks and other vehicles and that is kept charged during running of the vehicle or recharged by an alternator. Usually automobiles have wires and circuits carrying at least about 5 amps and up to about 50 amps depending upon the automobile wiring and fuses. The type of charging device circuitry is different for the household Alternating Current (AC) and for the automotive Direct Current (DC). The operating power supply or the re-charging devices convert the input electrical voltage and current into an appropriate operating or charging voltage and current. The voltage and current that is appropriate depends upon the requirements of the PED and the design and number of rechargeable batteries for which the recharging device is designed. Such recharging devices are typically provided with either a household plug for receiving household AC electrical power or an automotive electrical receptacle generally known as a cigarette lighter plug. For many years almost all automobiles have been provided with a dashboard mounted plug-in cigarette lighter that conveniently provides access to an automotive electrical circuit connected to the 12 volt battery and/or the alternator of the automobile. The user typically has an option of purchasing one type of re-charger for use with household electrical power in a building or another type for use with automotive electrical power in a vehicle. A traveler may have one charger for use while driving and another for use when in a home, hotel, or building at a destination. It will be noted that different voltage and current conversion circuitry is required, even for the same PED, depending upon whether the power source will be household AC or automotive DC. Thus, two recharging devices were often carried by travelers to accommodate both or either in-building operation/recharging and car operation/recharging as might be available at a time that the charge of the batteries of the PED became insufficient for proper operation.
In more recent years, many different types and voltages of batteries have been developed and adopted by manufactures. For example, nickel metal hydride (NiMetal Hydride) cells have a nominal voltage of 1.2 volts, although at full high charge they may be as high as 1.5 volts. NiMetal Hydride cells can generally provide a direct replacement for alkaline batteries in many applications. Other examples include lithium ion (Li+) batteries that typically are chargeable to about 4.1 to 4.2 volts for single cells and lithium polymer (Li-Poly) batteries typically are chargeable to about the 4.3 to 4.4 volts range. In many modern portable electronic devices these types of rechargeable batteries are often built right into the portable electronic devices or attached as a specially shaped cell to be part of the PED. Such PEDs are typically provide with a separate recharging unit having appropriate recharging circuitry and connectable to the portable electronic device with a special plug and cord adapter. The type of circuitry and plug for a particular recharging unit will differ depending upon the intended source of power, 115 v AC, 12 v DC or another voltage and current that may be “standard” in other countries outside of the US. In many instance a recharging circuit may be built into the PED and only an adapter cord with the required plug connections might be separately provided to connect the PED to a standard power source. The adapter cord still needs to match the intended power source and often travelers purchase both types (AC plug and DC car charger plug) so that charging is available with either a household current outlet or an automobile cigarette lighter receptacle. Such adapter cords or plug-in charging units typically connect to the PED with a plug and receptacle that is unique or proprietary to the particular PED or the particular manufacturer. As used here the term “unique” as applied to the connector may mean that the manufacturer has selected one of many available plug and receptacle configurations selected or produced by the manufacturer. It is unique because there is no true adopted standard for all PEDs. Thus, one end of the connector or cord plus into the PED and the other end of the connector or cord is be adapted to one or the other of a household plug or a cigarette lighter plug. It continues to be appropriate for a traveler to carry two recharging units or two cords to be able to accommodate either automobile operation/recharging or in-building operation/recharging.
Certain advances in computer technology have led to the development of a connector known as a universal serial bus (USB). A USB connector is often called a USB port and it includes a generally rectangular shaped male and female plug-in connection with a number of slide together contact electrical connection terminals. The terminals are arranged in a standardized pattern and when connected provide for rapid data transfer and information communication between computers, PEDs, and data storage devices, such as for example between two computers, between a computer and a PED, or between a computer and a data storage device. To facilitate the use of inexpensive data storage devices and other peripheral devices, the USB ports also include electrical power terminals in addition to the data connection terminals. Currently, most USB ports provide electrical power from an electrical device such as a computer in which the USB port is mounted. The electrical power available for transmission with a USB port is currently standardized at 5 volts DC for available USB protocol devices whether USB 1.1 or USB 2.0. The electrical power is provided at 5 volts DC and 100 μamps, for a low power USB port, and up to 500 μamps for a high power USB port. Some USB operating circuitry allows for a peripheral device to specify (with an appropriate data signal) the amount of current required in increments of 100 μamps, up to a total of 500 μamps.
Some portable electrical devices and some operating/recharging units, such as those with recharging circuits for NiCad batteries, circuits for nickel metal hydride batteries, circuits for lithium ion batteries, or circuits for lithium polymer batteries, have now been adapted to connect to USB ports. Such operating power/battery recharging units convert the available 5 v DC into an appropriate recharging voltage and current for the particular PED. A wide variety of recharging devices and cords are available from various portable electronic device manufactures and also from after market providers of recharging units. In the case of PEDs that are designed with onboard charging circuitry and that use USB voltage and current, a USB cable may be required to make a connection to a powered USB port that can typically be found on most modern personal computers.
Travelers with any of a variety of available portable electronic devices often no longer have the option to carry spare replacement alkaline batteries, but instead travel with the recharging cords or recharging devices specially adapted for each of the portable electrical devices being carried by the traveler. This can often lead to the carrying of two times as many cords/recharging devices as the traveler has portable electronic devices.